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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29384112">spop palentines day one - first meetings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelessgemini/pseuds/hopelessgemini'>hopelessgemini</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>First Meetings, Gen, Mentioned Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), please they are but 4 year olds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:28:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>932</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29384112</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelessgemini/pseuds/hopelessgemini</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>written for spop-palentine's on tumblr!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora &amp; Catra (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>SPOP Palentines (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>spop palentines day one - first meetings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Adora wakes up, there is a small box next to the bottom of her bed. A small, noisy box, with a tail and a pair of ears, that makes small whimpering sounds every time someone walks by.</p><p>The other cadets just ignore it, especially the older ones. There are a few curious glances in its direction, but otherwise they stay away. Nobody comes to peer into the box, nobody asks the small, whimpering thing if it’s alright. Adora thinks she notices a few people laughing at it, which strikes her really quite unfair. </p><p>It sounds… sad.</p><p>After her training, she catches a few cadets (big ones, older than her by a few years) kicking the box and laughing at the little noises it makes back. If she was big enough to scare them off, she would, but she’s only four, so she curls up at the top of her bunk, covers her ears, and hopes they’ll stop.</p><p>They don’t stop.</p><p>Not until late at night, when she really should be sleeping (Shadow Weaver gets mad if she doesn’t get enough sleep and punishes the boy who sleeps in the bunk above. Adora doesn’t know his name). Not until the box finally stops squeaking when they hit it, and starts crying instead. Long, heavy sobs that make the night feel colder than it already is, that drag at Adora’s heart and make her feel sick.</p><p>She lies awake for a while, staring into the dark, listening. </p><p>The box - no, the someone in the box - sounds so alone. It makes her remember her first few nights in the barracks, almost a whole four months ago, and how much she missed her friends in the year below. It makes her think of the way the boy in the bunk above cries at night sometimes, and how much she wishes to be big enough to get up the ladder to hug him and say sorry. </p><p>Most of all, it makes her unbearably sad.</p><p>
  <em>Shadow Weaver is gonna be so mad at me.</em>
</p><p>“Hey,” she whispers.</p><p>The sobbing stops for a moment, replaced by heavy, rapid breathing. It’s… it’s frightened.</p><p>“I’m Adora. What’s your name?”</p><p>More silence. Adora gets to her knees and crawls over to the end of her bed, setting a hand on the box. It has a weird, almost slimy texture. </p><p>“Ew, this box is <em>weird.</em>”</p><p>A stuttering laugh, broken by a sniff. Adora smiles at the twitching tail poking out of the flaps.</p><p>“You wanna come out? There’s lotsa space on my bed. You can sleep with me if you want.”</p><p>This time, the tail twitches again. Adora chooses to take that as encouragement and reaches over, opening the two flaps on the top of the box. </p><p>“I can’t show you my bed if I can’t see you, silly,” she explains. “Those big kids were really mean, but I promise I’m not like them. They’re just mad because they’re bad at training and everyone knows it.”</p><p>The box laughs properly this time. Adora spots a pair of bright eyes, one blue and one yellow (g<em>osh, those are pretty eyes</em>), before the front flap snaps shut again, and she jumps back.</p><p>“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, did I scare you?” she whispers. “I didn’t mean to-”</p><p>“It’s okay. ’S dark,” the box mumbles back. “You’re big.”</p><p>
  <em>Oh.</em>
</p><p>Adora lifts back the flap again, wearing her gentlest smile. “Only because you’re all the way down there in that tiny box.”</p><p>Mismatched eyes blink up at her, then squeeze shut. “I guess.”</p><p>She opens the other flap slowly, careful not to lean over the box too far or shake it too much. “Do you wanna sleep on my bed?”</p><p>A head pokes out of the box, a head with a pair of striking eyes and a thick mess of hair and scraggly fur and big, fuzzy ears. Adora feels her smile grow bigger despite herself (her face has started to hurt by now). “Hi.”</p><p>“Hi,” the girl echoes softly, rubbing her eyes.</p><p>“What’s your name?”</p><p>She shakes her head, ears twitching. “Don’t know.”</p><p>Adora tips her head to the side. “Well, I gotta call you something. How about we try ‘Catra’?”</p><p>The girl looks at her for a long moment, ears still flicking back and forth. She crawls fully out of the box and sits on the edge, and then slides her hand into Adora’s. </p><p>“Catra,” she repeats, and the hint of a smile forms on her lips. “That’s nice.”</p><p>Adora beams back. “You like it?”</p><p>Catra nods once, thoughtfully. Her ears stop twitching and swivel forward, perking up. “I like it. Lots.”</p><p>She gets down from the box, dropping onto cold steel, and winces at the sensation. There are bruises on her exposed skin (fur?) and dark circles under her eyes. She must have been crying for a long time, Adora thinks, but now she’s smiling, and it’s <em>awesome</em>.</p><p>“So,” she tries. “Do you wanna come on my bed? It’s for a big kid so there’s loads of room.”</p><p>Catra blinks, looks over at the bed, blinks again. Her eyes narrow, like she’s trying to see through it, trying to find the trick, and Adora wonders how many times she’s been hurt in her life.</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>She beams back, first at the scrawny, small girl sat opposite, then at the hand pressed tightly into hers. “You wanna be my friend?”</p><p>Catra’s eyes widen. She looks down at their hands, then back at Adora, mirroring her, and… her smile grows. And it’s the best thing in the world. “I… yes. I wanna be your friend.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>leave a comment/kudos if you enjoyed! you can find me on tumblr @nonbinarychaoticstupid and on twitter @glitrasadora ! </p><p>i promise i'm working on my chapter fic kdjhjerjeejhjrh</p></blockquote></div></div>
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